Itinerant electron transport in microscopically inhomogeneous magnetic fields

We report on magnetoresistance measurements in thin nickel films modulated by a periodic magnetic field emanating from micromagnetic arrays fabricated at the film surface. By increasing the strength of the magnetic potential using nickel and dysprosium micromagnets, we are able to quench the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in the film.     

Spin-polarized transport in one-dimensional waveguide structures with spatially-periodic electronic and magnetic fields

We investigate theoretically the spin-polarized transport in one-dimensional waveguide structure with spatially-periodic electronic and magnetic fields. The interplay of the spin-orbit interaction and in-plane magnetic field significantly modifies the spin-dependent transmission and the spin polarization. The in-plane magnetic fields increase the strength of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling effect for the electric fields along y axis and decrease this effect for reversing the electric fields, even counteract the Rashba spin-orbit coupling effect. It is very interesting to find that we may deduce the strength of the Rashba effect through this phenomenon.     

Spin injection-driven switching in a magnetic junction

We investigate a perpendicular electric current passing through a “ferromagnetic nanojunction”, that is through some layered nanosized structure of spin-valve type, containing two ferromagnetic metallic layers. Spacer may be used between the metallic layers to prevent the rotation of the moving spin phases. Such an arrangement is typical for spin valves: one of the metallic layers has strongly pinned magnetic lattice and the other one has free magnetic lattice and free mobile spins. Further the conditions are derived to provide a very high nonequilibrium spin injection level. It appears that the so-called spin resistances of the constitutive layers should be in definite relations to each other. These relations lead to the situation where the spin injection becomes dominant and significantly suppresses the “ordinary” spin-transfer torque. As a result, the threshold current becomes lowered down to 2-3 and even more orders of magnitude.     

Two-dimensional electron gas in a periodic magnetic field

We study the energy spectrum and electronic properties of a two-dimensional (2D) spinless electron gas in a periodic magnetic field which has the symmetry of a triangular lattice. We show that the energy bands depend strongly on the value of the magnetic field. For large field the low-energy electrons are localized on closed rings where the magnetic field vanishes. This results in the appearance of persistent currents around these rings. We also calculate the intrinsic Hall conductivity, which is quantized when the Fermi level is in a gap.     

Enhanced magnetoresistance and surface state of CrO2 particles improved by chemical process

The paper presents an approach to enhance a magnetoresistance (MR) effect in CrO₂ powder compact by an oxidization reaction process. An aqueous potassium permanganate (KMnO₄) was used to react with the CrO₂ particles coated naturally with Cr₂O₃ layer. The experiment indicates that the strong oxidant can effectively adjust thickness of the natural Cr₂O₃ layer, and thereby change the surface state of the CrO₂ particles. Structural and magnetic properties for the improved CrO₂ particles have been characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and SQUID magnetometer. The results exhibit that the magnetotransport behavior of CrO₂ particles depends sensitively on the chemical reaction time. An optimal reaction process yields an obvious increase up to −33% in magnetoresistance at a temperature of 5 K for the chemical treated CrO₂ powder, compared to MR=-27% for the original CrO₂ powder. The mechanism of magnetotransport is assumed to originate from the spin-dependent tunneling in the granular system, which is consistent with our experimental results. The simple chemical approach has a potential to achieve an enhanced magnetoresistance in a metallic particle system by adjusting the surface state of the magnetic nanoparticle.     

Interface scattering and spin-dependent transport in granular magnetite

We have prepared nearly monodisperse Fe₃O₄ of ∼50 nm by a chemical route and investigated the electrical and magnetic transports of the composite granular system. A Verwey transition is observed in the vicinity of 113 K. Above and below the Verwey transition, the electrical transport is dominated by electron hopping behavior showing a good linear relation between resistance and T^−1/2. The magnetoresistance (MR) increases with the applied field and does not follow the magnetization to reach the saturation at 10 KOe field. This indicates that the MR is mainly arising from the spin-dependent scattering of electrons through the grain boundaries. The temperature dependence of MR shows it has the highest MR value near the Verwey transition.     

Low-frequency noise and inelastic tunneling spectroscopy in Fe(1 1 0)/MgO(1 1 1)/Fe(1 1 0) epitaxial magnetic tunnel junctions

We report on tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR), current–voltage (IV) characteristics and low-frequency noise in epitaxially grown Fe(1 1 0)/MgO(1 1 1)/Fe(1 1 0) magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) with dimensions from 2×2 to 20×20 μm². The evaluated MgO energy barrier (0.50±0.08 eV), the barrier width (13.1±0.5 Å) as well as the resistance times area product (7±1 MΩ μm²) show relatively small variation, confirming a high quality epitaxy and uniformity of all MTJs studied. At low temperatures (T<10 K) inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) shows anomalies related to phonons (symmetric structures below 100 meV) and asymmetric features above 200 meV. We explain the asymmetric features in IETS as due to generation of electron standing waves in one of the Fe electrodes. The noise power, though exhibiting a large variation, was observed to be roughly anti-correlated with the TMR. Surprisingly, for the largest junctions we observed a strong enhancement of the normalized low-frequency noise in the antiparallel magnetic configuration. This behavior could be related to the influence of magnetostriction on the characteristics of the insulating barrier through changes in local barrier defects structure.     

Microwave radiation induced magneto-oscillations in the longitudinal and transverse resistance of a two-dimensional electron gas

We confirm the existence of magneto-resistance oscillations in a microwave-irradiated two-dimensional electron gas, first reported in a series of papers by Zudov et al. [Phys. Rev. B 64 (2001) 201311] and Mani et al. [Nature (London) 420 (2002) 646]. In our experiments, on a sample with a moderate mobility, the microwave induced oscillations are observed not only in the longitudinal but also in the transverse-resistance (Hall resistance). The phase of the oscillations is such that the decrease (increase) in the longitudinal resistance is accompanied by an increase (decrease) in the absolute value of the Hall resistance. We believe that these new results provide valuable new information to better understand the origin of this interesting phenomenon.     

Spectroscopy of soft modes and quantum phase transitions in coupled electron bilayers

Strongly correlated two-dimensional electrons in coupled semiconductor bilayers display remarkable broken symmetry many-body states under accessible and controllable experimental conditions. In the case of continuous quantum phase transitions (QPTs), soft collective modes drive the transformations that link distinct ground states of the electron double layers. In this paper we consider results showing that resonant inelastic light scattering methods detect soft collective modes of the double layers and probe their evolution with temperature and magnetic field. The light scattering experiments offer venues of research of fundamental interactions and continuous QPTs in low-dimensional electron liquids.     

Theory of spin transfer phenomena in magnetic metals and semiconductors

We propose a general theory of the spin-transfer effects that occur when current flows through inhomogeneous magnetic systems. Our theory does not rest on an appeal to conservation of total spin, can assess whether or not current-induced magnetization precession and switching in a particular geometry will occur coherently, and can estimate the efficacy of spin-transfer when spin-orbit interactions are present. We illustrate our theory by applying it to a toy-model twodimensional-electron-gas ferromagnet with Rashba spin-orbit interactions.     

Charged excitons at high magnetic fields: the effect of the surrounding electron gas

We study the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of a two-dimensional electron system at the high magnetic field limit, where all electrons reside at the lowest Landau level (ν<2). Using a gated structure we tune the electron density from the dilute limit to a dense electron gas, and follow the changes in the emission spectrum. We find that the spectrum at the dilute limit consists of two bound triplets, whose behavior is consistent with that of the dark and bright triplets. We show that the spectrum undergoes critical changes at ν=1/3, from an isolated charged exciton-like spectrum at ν<1/3, to a spectrum that reflects the interactions with the surrounding electrons above this filling factor. This behavior is found to be robust, independent of the electron density and magnetic field. We compare our observations with other recent low temperature PL measurements of a two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic field and find good agreement and consistency.     

Giant magneto-impedance and skin effect in CuBe/CoNiP composite wires

The giant magneto-impedance and skin effect in electroless deposited CuBe/CoNiP composite wires with different diameter of CuBe core are presented, and involves a theoretical approach of the current density distributions in layers. Results show that the strong eddy current in the magnetic CoNiP coating will be induced due to the electromagnetic interactions with the CuBe core. It makes the skin effect strong in the magnetic coating even at very low frequency, and at this, large MI changes can also be observed.     

Coupled chains in electric and magnetic fields revisited

Coupled chains in electric and magnetic fields are discussed in terms of interplays between periodicity conditions and the factorization of the wavefunction in the wavenumber representation. Proceeding in this manner yields a quickly tractable matching condition providing the quantization rule to the alternative derivation of complex energy bands. Besides achieving a deeper understanding of Wannier-Stark ladders in terms of complex resonance energies, we now have the opportunity to establish related energy levels by resorting to a suitable conversion technique. This amounts to perform an immediate integration of such energy bands over the Brillouin-zone. Such energy levels exhibit, this time, a safe dependence on the chain parameter. Dynamic localization effects, conserved currents and stripe conductivity formulae have also been discussed.     

Temperature dependence of trap luminescence of CdS doped glasses

The temperature dependence of the optical absorption edge and integrated luminescence of CdS semiconductor doped glasses, having similar characteristics but manufactured by different manufactures like Corning 373 and Schott 1743 has been investigated. Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) analysis is presented for these samples to understand the contribution of the inhomogeneous distribution of nanocrystal size. The energy gap shrinkage coefficient (α) and effective phonon energy (θ) have been derived from the temperature dependence of the energy gap. The activation energy of thermal photoluminescence (PL) quenching has been derived from the temperature dependence of luminescence intensity. An anomalous behaviour of the luminescence intensity and of bandwidth in the temperature range 50-10 K has been discussed using configuration co-ordinate model. The difference in the behaviour of different samples in the range 50-10 K has been suggested to arise from the inhomogeneous size distribution, which is supported by TEM analysis.     

Charge order melting and magnetic transition in Nd0.5(1+x)Ca0.5(1−x)Mn(1−x)CrxO3 system

The magnetic property of double doped manganite Nd_0.5(1+x)Ca_0.5(1−x)Mn_(1−x)Cr_xO₃ with a fixed ratio of Mn³⁺:Mn⁴⁺=1:1 has been investigated. For the undoped sample, it undergoes one transition from charge disordering to charge ordering (CO) associated with paramagnetic (PM)-antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase transition at T<250 K. The long range AFM ordering seems to form at 35 K, rather than previously reported 150 K. At low temperature, an asymmetrical M-H hysteresis loop occurs due to weak AFM coupling. For the doped samples, the substitution of Cr³⁺ for Mn³⁺ ions causes the increase of magnetization and the rise of T_c. As the Cr³⁺ concentration increases, the CO domain gradually becomes smaller and the CO melting process emerges. At low temperature, the FM superexchange interaction between Mn³⁺ and Cr³⁺ ions causes a magnetic upturn, namely, the second FM phase transition.     

Spin polarization of two-dimensional electron gas in hybrid ferromagnetic/semiconductor nanostructures

We present a theoretical study on the spin-dependent transport of electrons in hybrid ferromagnetic/semiconductor nanosystem under an applied bias voltage. Experimentally, this kind of nanosystem can be realized by depositing a magnetized ferromagnetic stripe with arbitrary magnetization direction on the surface of a semiconductor heterostructure. It is shown that large spin-polarized current can be achieved in such a nanosystem. It is also shown that the spin polarity of the electron transport can be switched by adjusting the applied bias voltage. These interesting properties may provide an alternative scheme to realize spin injection into semiconductors, and such a nanosystem may be used as a tunable spin-filter by bias voltage.     

Spin polarization of two-dimensional electron gas in a hybrid magnetic-electric barrier

We report on a theoretical study of spin-dependent electron transport in a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) modulated by a stripe of ferromagnetic metal under an applied voltage. A general formula of transmission probability for electronic tunneling through this system is obtained. Based on this formula, it is shown that large spin-polarized current can be achieved in such a device. It is also shown that the degree of electron-spin polarization is strongly dependent upon the applied voltage to the stripe in the device. These interesting properties may provide an alternative scheme to spin-polarize electrons into semiconductors, and this device may be used as a voltage-tunable spin-filter.     

Spin transresistivity—a probe of the opposite-spin correlations in an electron system

We investigate the spin drag effect in spin polarized transport beyond the random phase approximation by considering an effective scattering potential that incorporates self-consistently the effects of the short range Coulomb interaction through momentum dependent local field corrections. We find that the first order many-body correction to the spin transresistivity is determined by the local field factor for opposite-spin correlations.     

The influence of interlayer exchange coupling on magnetic ordering in Fe/V superlattices

The relation between the interlayer exchange coupling and magnetic order is addressed, using Fe/V(0 0 1) superlattices as a model system. Large decrease in the ordering temperature (T_c) is observed with decreasing interlayer exchange coupling. The effective exponents of the magnetization were determined to be larger than 0.5 for all the samples, which is strongly deviating from the classical values of both two- and three-dimensional systems. This effect can partially be ascribed to the presence of boundaries, invoked by the finite number of magnetic layers.     

Long-lived resonances supported by a contact interaction in crossed magnetic and electric fields

The lifetime of the resonance states of an electron interacting with a zero-range potential in the presence of crossed magnetic and electric fields is studied for the case where the electron is confined in the direction of the magnetic field by a parabolic quantum well. It is shown that long-lived electric field-induced resonances exist in this system even when the zero-range potential does not support any field-free bound state. The relationship of these resonances with the Landau states localized near the point interaction is discussed.